Local Author Spotlight: Eva Finley

By Leigh Verburg, Branch Librarian

Meet Eva Finley! She is the local author of The Sun Daughter’s Gift, a young adult novel about a girl who has the gift of making pure light—which comes in handy as there is an unknown group of Shadow People trying to take over and kill the sun goddess and her daughters. This is a magical realism novel that is fast paced and high action. It will leave you on the edge of your seat cheering on the characters.

Eva is a 35-year-old crafter, author and artist. She is a woman of many talents. The idea for this novel came from a book that her mother gave her for her birthday. In it, women wrote letters to their younger selves and the idea “just clicked.” The dark and Shadow People were inspired from her own fear of the dark. J.K. Rowling had a large influence on Eva and the way she writes. She also loves reading young adult novels and Nicholas Sparks books.

One of my favorite aspects of The Sun Daughter’s Gift, is that the sun is a female. In most mythologies the sun is a male. I asked Eva about this and she said it "just felt natural to make the sun a woman.” As Eva was writing, she only intended the first chapter to be set in the future, but after she wrote the first draft, she decided to try adding more flashforwards and time jumps.

This is a fun read for adults and teens. Check it out at KDL.org!

 For more from Eva, check out her blog at Evafinley.wordpress.com.